Apparatus for automatically playing gramophone records



9 c. METCALFE ETAL 2,571,466

v A APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY I PLAYING GRAMOPHONE RECORDS Filed Oct.so, 1946,

' PIGKUP'ARM LEVER TURNTABLE TURNTABLE DRIVE MOTOR SPINDIV.E.

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Patented Oct. 16, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE APPARATUS FORAUTOMATICALLY PLAY- ING GRAMOPHONE RECORDS Application October 30, 1946,Serial No. 706,612 In Great Britain November 5, 1945 6 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for automatically playing gramophonerecords, the invention having particular but not exclusive reference tothe kind of apparatus in which an inward movement of the pickup arm triplever serves to move a lever into the path of a cam rotated by theturntable drive, the trip lever being moved under the action of the camto its original position until an exaggerated movement of the pickuptrip lever occurs. Then, due to the consequent increased movement of thetrip lever, a clutch is actuated initiating a changing cycle of theapparatus.

Usually, in automatic record playing apparatus the automatic cycle forremoval of the pickup or tone arm, hereinafter referred to as pick-- uparm from a played record is initiated under the control of the wellknown tap-tap mechanism which comprises a tap-tap lever which is fedinwardly during each revolution of the turntable towards a memberrotated by the turntable which during each revolution moves the tap-taplever back to its original position until an exaggerated movement of thepickup arm and its associated pickup arm lever occurs when the tap-taplever is moved into a position where it can be tripped in such a manneras to initiate the automatic cycle. An example of such a mechanism isdescribed in the specification of British Patent No. 562,650. In thisspecification when the exaggerated movement occurs a gravity-operatedclutch is caused to become engaged so that a face cam is driven so as toeffect raising of the pickup arm from the record and the furtheroperations necessary for the changing of a record. The tap-tap lever isassociated with a clutch lever which, when the tap-tap lever is tripped,is thrown out of engagement with a shutter so that an arm on said clutchlever which normally holds the gravity-operated clutch disengaged ismoved from engagement with the clutch so that the clutch falls bygravity and is thereby engaged. Said shutter is rotated by a drivinggear and when the shutter is disposed in a position such that the clutchlever can move into the slot in the shutter, a spring then moves saidclutch lever into a position to cause disengagement of said clutch andthe tap-tap lever into its tap-tap position. The tap-tap lever iscoupled to the pickup arm lever by a frictional coupling and whenemploying lightweight pickups it is necessary to employ only a slightfrictional coupling and it is found that when the tap-tap lever isrestored by said spring to its tap-tap position said spring tends tocause the tap-tap lever to be moved beyond its tap-tap position so thaton rotation of the turntable the tap-tap lever is tripped so causingfalse operation.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an improvedmechanism with a view to overcoming this difficulty.

According to one feature of the present invention are provided formoving the taptap lever into its normal tap-tap position, said meansbeing positively driven at an appropriate time during the automaticcycle.

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readilycarried into efiect, the same will now be more fully described withreference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is an under plan view of mechanism embodying one feature of theinvention, and

Figure 2 is an exploded under plan view of mechanism embodying anotherfeature of the invention.

Referring to the drawing, the tap-tap lever which is constructedsimilarly to the tap-tap lever described in the specification of theaforesaid patent, is pivotally mounted on a trip lever 2 which isfrictionally coupled to the pickup arm lever 21 which is mounted on anan- .gularly movable post 3 the pickup arm which is not shown is alsomounted on the post 3 to cause both the pickup arm and the pickup leverto pass through the same angular movement. The tap-tap lever l isprovided at one end with a rubber roller 4 with which a lug 5 carried onand rotated by the turntable spindle 28 normally engages during theplaying period to return the tap-tap lever l after its inward movement,said tap-tap lever i also having a nose 6 which is actuated by said lug5, the nose 6 being engaged by said lug when an exaggerated movement ofthe pickup arm lever occurs. If desired an arrangement similar to thatdescribed in the specification of U. S. Patent No. 2,178,199 may beemployed for operating said lever I. The turntable spindle is driven bya turntable drive motor 29 through any desired mechanical coupling asindicated by the dotted linkage 3. This drive can be accomplished bymeans of a direct gear drive arrangement or through the turntable (notshown) by means of a rim drive arrangement as shown and described in U.S. Patent 2,348,924 of May 16, 1944. The tap-tap lever l and the triplever 2 are coupled together by a spring I, and a pin 8 on the tap-tap1ever I normally engagesa clutch lever 9' and a shutter lever 10 whichare pivotally mounted on 3 a common pivot II, said clutch lever 9 havingan arm I2 which normally projects into a position such that it holds theclutch I3, which is constructed. similarly to the clutch described inthe specification of the aforesaid patent, disengaged. The shutter leverI has a lug I4 at one end which is normally engaged in a slot I in theshutter l6 which is also constructed similarly to the shutter describedin the specification of the aforesaid patent. The shutter lever I0 isnormally held in said slot I5 by the provision of a suitably disposedspring and when the mechanism is tripped the tap-tap lever I is turnedabout its pivot moving the trip lever 2 and also moving the clutch lever9 and the shutter lever I0 about the pivot II due to the engagement ofthe pin 8 on said tap-tap lever I with the clutch 9 and the shutterlever ID. This movement moves the arm 12 on the clutch lever 9 out ofthe path of the clutch I3 so that the clutch falls by gravity and isthereby engaged to drive the mechanism to commence a fresh automaticcycle. The shutter lever I0 when moved outwardly by the pin 8 of thetap-tap leverrl withdraws the lug I4 on the end of said lever I9 fromthe slot I5 in the shutter I6 and said lug I4 rests on the periphery ofthe shutter I6 and remains in such position until the shutter is rotatedto such an extent as again to bring the slot I5 in the shutter into linewith said lug I4. After tripping has occurred and when the lug 5 rotatedby the turntable spindle moves out of engagement with the nose 6 of thetap-tap lever I, the tap-tap lever is returned to its initial positionrelatively to the trip lever 2 by the spring 1. In order to avoid thetap-tap lever I being returned beyond its taptap position which mightcause false operation when the playing cycle recommences, a pin I8 isarranged so that at an appropriate time in the cycle said pin I8 engagessaid trip lever 2 and positively moves the latter and said taptap leverI carried thereby into the tap-tap position. Said pin I8 may, forexample, project from said shutter I 6 as shown so as to be rotated withthe shutter and is suitably disposed on said shutter so that said triplever 2 is positively moved at the appropriate time. The shutter leverI9 when the slot I5 in the shutter I6 is in line with said lug I4 on theshutter lever I9 is moved into said slot I5 under the action of itsassociated spring and this movement is communicated to the clutch lever9 by a pin and slot connection so that the arm I2 on said clutch leveris moved into the path of the clutch I3 which is then caused to bedisengaged. Thus, by the provision of said pin I8 which engages the triplever 2 the tap-tap lever I is not moved into its tap-tap position underthe action of a spring so that the possibility of said tap-tap leverbeing moved to a position beyond its tap-tap position, which is likelyto cause false operation, is substantially avoided.

In mechanism of the kind described in the specification of the aforesaidco-pending patent application, records are usually fed to the turntableby the provision of a feeding sleeve which is driven during theautomatic cycle, the feeding sleeve being rotatably mounted about astationary record post and is provided with a projection which engagesthe centre hole .in the record to cause, when a fresh record is requiredto be fed to the turntable, the lowermost record to be moved laterallyfrom a shoulder on the record post so that it can slide down the recordpost onto the turntable. It is found with this mechanism that there is atendency when the motor of the machine is switched off for the inertiaof the turntable to cause the mechanism to be driven beyond the desiredposition so that when the motor is switch on again the parts are not inan appropriate position for recommencing playing or for recommencing theautomatic cycle.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improvedmechanism with a view to overcoming this difiiculty.

Accordingly to a further feature of the invention the clutch is causedto be disengaged so as to uncouple the turntable from the rest of themechanism as soon as the motor is switched off.

Referring to Figure 2 of the drawing, normally the switch 3I whichcontrols the starting and stopping of the motor of the mechanism iscontrolled by a latch bar I9 whch is held in such a position that themotor is not switched of! until the mechanism is in a position with thepickup arm supported on its rest. In this position as soon as the motoris switched on again a, fresh playing cycle can be commenced. However,as mentioned above, if the clutch remains coupled to the mechanism whenthe pickup arm is supported on its rest, there is the possibility thateven though the motor is switched off the inertia of the turntable willdrive the mechanism to such an extent that when the turntable ultimatelystops rotating the parts are no longer in a position to commence a freshplaying cycle. In order to overcome this difliculty the latch bar I9 iscoupled to a clutch-actuating lever 20 which as soon as the latch bar isreleased causes the aforesaid clutch lever 9 to be moved into a positonsuch that said arm I2 on said clutch lever 9 is moved into the path ofthe clutch I3 so as to cause the clutch to be disengaged so de-couplingthe turntable from the mechanism so that the turntable can rotate underits inertia without communicating any movement to the mechanism. Thelatch bar I9 may be mounted for rectilinear movement and may be operatedunder control of a push button and carries suitable contacts for theswitch of the motor and is normally held in the latched position untileither the machine is manually switched off, as by the operation of afurther push button, or until the last record has been fed to theturntable when the mechanism controlled on the release of the lastrecord conditions the mechanism for the release of the latch bar,release of the latch bar occurring in either case when the pickup issupported on its rest. Said latch bar I9 is coupled by a pin and slotconnection to a cam 2I the periphery of which engages saidclutch-actuating lever 20 so that when the latch bar I9 is in thelatched position the clutch-actuating lever 20 is moved into a positionwhere the arm I2 on the clutch lever 9 can perform its normal functionsduring the automatic cycle. However, the clutchactuating lever 20 is socoupled to the clutch lever 9 that when said latch bar is released andthe cam 2| is then moved into a position as to permit a spring (notshown) to cause said clutch-actuating lever 20 to turn about its pivot,the movement of the latter is communicated to said clutch lever 9 sothat the arm I2 on said clutch lever 9 is moved into the path of saidclutch I3 causing the clutch to be disengaged so de-coupling theturntable from the mechanism. Said clutch-actuating lever 20 may bepivotally mounted on the same axis 22 as the aforesaid clutch lever 9and shutter lever l9 and is coupled to the shutter lever in by theprovision of a pin 23 on said shutter lever 10 which passes through anaperture 24 in the clutch lever 9 and through a slot 25 in theclutch-actuating lever 20. A pin 26 provided on the clutch lever 9projects into the path of the clutch-actuating lever and when the latchbar 19 is released the clutch-actuating lever turns about its pivot andthe leading edge of the clutch-actuating lever 20 engages the pin 26 onthe clutch lever 9 causing the latter to turn about its pivot 22 andmoving the arm I2 on the clutch lever 9 into the path of said clutch I3.Lost motion occurs between the shutter lever l0 and the clutch lever 9by virtue of the pin 23 on the shutter lever moving freely in theaperture 24 in said clutch lever. When the motor is switched on againthe latch bar I9 rotates said cam 2| and moves the clutch-actuatinglever 20 against the tension of its spring without disturbing thepositions of the clutch lever 9 and the shutter lever Hi owing to thelost motion connection afforded by the slot 25 in said clutch-actuatinglever and the pin 23 provided on said shutter lever; movement of theclutch lever 9 may be damped by the provision of a light spring.

Although the mechanism described above is particularly suitable for usein conjunction with the apparatus described in the specification of theaforesaid co-pending patent application, it will be understood that thefeatures of the invention are not limited in their use with suchapparatus.

We claim:

1. In an automatic record playing apparatus having tap-tap mechanismcomprising a pickup arm lever, a trip lever pivotally mounted infrictional engagement with said pickup arm lever, means including atap-tap lever pivotally mounted on said trip lever, a turntable spindle,cycling mechanism, a clutch interposed between said spindle and cyclingmechanism adapted to become engaged upon an exaggerated movement of thepickup arm lever to initiate the automatic cycling of said mechanism,and means positively driven at an appropriate time during the automaticcycle for moving said tap-tap lever into its normal tap-tap position.

2. In an automatic record playing apparatus according to claim 1,wherein said means are adapted to engage a trip lever on which saidtaptap lever is mounted.

3. In an automatic record playing apparatus according to claim 2,wherein said means comprise a member carried by a part of the apparatuswhich is rotated during the automatic cyclev 4. In an automatic recordplaying apparatus having a turntable spindle and driving motor therefor,and having tap-tap mechanism comprising a pickup arm trip lever and atap-tap lever adapted to be tripped upon an exaggerated movement of thepickup arm trip lever, a clutch adapted to become engaged upon trippingof said tap-tap lever under the control of the turntable spindle drivingmotor to couple the turntable spindle driving motor to mechanism foreffecting the automatic cycling of said apparatus, and a switch for saidmotor, and means operative, when said switch is actuated to switch ofithe motor, to disengage said clutch whereby the turntable spindle isuncoupled from said mechanism.

5. In an automatic record playing apparatus as defined in claim 4,wherein said switch operating means comprises a clutch lever and aclutch-actuating lever a switch-actuating member coupled to saidclutch-actuating lever through the intermediary of a cam, whereby whenthe motor is switched on said clutch-actuating lever is held out ofengagement with said clutch lever and when the motor is switched 011said cam is operated to permit said clutch actuating lever to engagesaid clutch lever and move it to clutch disengaging position.

6. Automatic record playing apparatus having a tap-tap mechanismcomprising a pickup arm lever, a trip lever pivotally mounted infrictional engagement with said pickup arm lever, means including atap-tap lever pivotally mounted on said trip lever, a turntable spindleand drive motor, a cycling mechanism, a clutch interposed between saidturntable spindle and said cycling mechanism and adapted to becomeengaged through vertical movement upon tripping of said tap-tap lever tocouple the turntable spindle to said mechanism for efiecting theautomatic cycling of said apparatus, a switch for said motor, and meansoperative when said switch is actuated to switch off said motor todisengage said clutch whereby said turntable spindle is uncoupled fromsaid mechanism.

CLIFFORD METCALFE. ALEXANDER. JAMES RAE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,434,366 Casper Nov. 7, 19221,685,471 Waterworth Sept. 25, 1928 2,259,251 Kamp Oct. 14, 19412,290,372 Knox July 21, 1942 2,307,030 Erwood Jan. 5, 1943 2,348,924 RoeMay 16, 1944

